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| Date | November 23, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | vacant WBC Continental Americas super middleweight title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mayorga wins via majority decision (115–111, 114–112, 113–113) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fernando Vargas vs. Ricardo Mayorga, billed as The Brawl, was a professional boxing match contested on November 23, 2007. [1]
After having reached an agreement in May 2007, the fight between 2-time light middleweight champion Fernando Vargas and 2-division champion Ricardo Mayorga was formally announced at press conference on July 11. As customary with Mayorga, when it was his turn to speak, he used unrelenting trash talk to insult his opponent. Mayorga referred to Vargas as "fatty" due to Vargas' insistence on fighting at a catchweight of 162 pounds, vowed to retire him and claimed that he would be doing Vargas' wife "a favor and not let her cry anymore after I disfigure you." Immediately after Mayorga made the statement about his wife, Vargas stood up and confronted Mayorga, who slapped Vargas, who in turn landed two blows to Mayorga as both fighter's respective parties separated the two. After order was restored and Mayorga left the room, Vargas announced that the fight would be his last, claiming that "pride" was the reason for taking the fight as he did not want to end his career on the consecutive losses he had suffered to Shane Mosley the previous year. [2]
The fight was originally scheduled to take place on September 8, however, after feeling sluggish and tired while training for the bout, Vargas was diagnosed with anemia following a doctor's visit. Per doctor's orders, Vargas was told he could not train for three weeks resulting in the fight being postponed and ultimately rescheduled for November 23. [3] [4] Due to his illness, Vargas insisted on the original agreed upon catchweight of 162 pounds being moved up to 166 pounds, two pounds under the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. [5] Both fighters weighed in at 164 pounds, two pounds under the catchweight. [6]
Mayorga scored the fights only two knockdowns, first sending Vargas down in the final 20 seconds of the first round after landing a hard combination and then again in the eleventh round after scoring flush with a right hand in the final seconds before the round ended. The two knockdowns suffered proved costly for Vargas as he would lose a close majority decision to Mayorga, who took two of the judge's official scorecards by scores of 115–111 and 114–112 while the third had the fight even at 113–113. [7]
Confirmed bouts: [8]
| Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catchweight | 166 lbs. | Ricardo Mayorga | def. | Fernando Vargas | MD | 12/12 | note 1 | |
| Welterweight | 147 lbs. | Kermit Cintrón | def. | Jesse Feliciano | TKO | 10/12 | note 2 | |
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Roman Karmazin | def. | Alejandro García | KO | 3/12 | note 3 | |
| Preliminary bouts | ||||||||
| Super Featherweight | 130 lbs. | Jason Litzau | def. | Edel Ruiz | UD | 10/10 | ||
| Lightweight | 135 lbs. | Fernando Angulo | def. | Damian Fuller | UD | 10/10 | ||
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Henry Crawford | def. | Jose Juan Bermejo | UD | 8/8 | ||
| Heavyweight | 200+ lbs. | Evans Quinn | def. | Victor Barragan | TKO | 1/8 | ||
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Nelson Linares | def. | Jorge Alberto Padilla | UD | 8/8 | ||
^Note 1 For WBC Continental Americas super middleweight title
^Note 2 For IBF welterweight title
^Note 3 WBA light middleweight title eliminator
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United States | Showtime |